Easter II

By the Reverend Martha Frances

Year A, Easter II

30 March 2008 

Text:  John 20: 19-31

Other Readings:  Acts 2: 14a, 22-32; Psalm 16; I Peter 1: 3-9 

      "Peace be with you," Jesus says to his disciples when he appears to them behind locked doors on that first Easter night.  You can bet there hasn't been any peace with the disciples thus far this day.  Do we find ourselves with the disciples huddled in the upper room, wondering what on earth will happen to us now?  Our lives have been turned upside down for the past 3 years by this traveling preacher.  He has called us away from our fishing nets & fields, our kitchen stoves & tax businesses, to come follow him.  We have done so, coming to believe that he is the Messiah for whom we have waited so long.

      Now, the last fateful trip to Jerusalem & the drama of the last few days.  Our hopes & dreams have been destroyed.  Not only have we seen or heard of the horrible events of the crucifixion; not only have we agonized through the Sabbath, trying to determine what to do next.  Several of us went to the tomb this morning & found it empty.  Mary Magdalene came running to us, telling us of her encounter with the gardener at Gethsemane; no, not a gardener, but indeed this same Jesus, yet Jesus mysteriously changed.  She returned exclaiming, "I have seen the Lord!"  What are we to think about these happenings?  What are we to DO about them?

      We're not left to wonder for long because here in our midst Jesus appears, saying, "Peace be with you!"  There he is—at least we recognize him this time; we rejoice at seeing the wounds in his hands & side.  Yes, this is he who has been crucified; he's back with us as a person—this same Jesus, yet Jesus mysteriously changed.  Listen!  Jesus is saying again, "Peace be with you," & then continues, "As the Father has sent me, so I send you."  What does he think of us after we all abandoned him?  How can he offer us peace?  This acceptance he shows us:  how does he do that?  Amazing!  And further, he says he sends us to do the same.

      What are you talking about, Jesus?  You don't mean you want us to go out there in that hostile world—the one where you were just murdered?  We're scared!  We're not ready!  We have NO peace!

      Jesus doesn't have time to fool around, though, so he breathes on us just as God breathed into creation the world & all in it.  God breathed the breath of life into creation, that Spirit which had hovered of the deep & then infused into creation by God's very own breath.  On the 1^st day of the week, the day of NEW creation, Jesus now inspires this whole houseful of disciples with such breath, with such power.  Right here in front of God & everybody, Jesus is making good on the vow he made at that last supper before the crucifixion to send the Paraclete.  Jesus is providing us an Advocate; I think that's like an attorney, someone who'll stand up for us & take our side.  Maybe we won't feel so alone & afraid.

      But Jesus is also telling us he has lots for us to do.  Listen to this.  He says, "Receive the Holy Spirit; get on with my work in the world.  Get out there & tell the good news of new life.  Remember, I told you that you would do greater things than I have done.  What are you doing behind locked doors?  Get a move on!"  He really does expect us to go on out in that precarious world & accomplish new things in his name, doesn't he?

      And Jesus is pretty specific about the gift the Spirit empowers us to share with others: forgiveness.  We're to offer the new covenant of reconciliation.  We prayed a few minutes ago for God to give us the power to show forth in our lives what we profess by our faith.  Do we really mean it?  You mean we have to give up the resentments we have when things don't go our way?  Does Jesus really expect us to share the gift of forgiveness with others?  Even those who have slighted us, even here in the Christian community? That's asking a lot.  But he just said that when we don't do that, the sins we retain—those we're unwilling to ask God's forgiveness for—will continue to haunt us. 

      Now what are the sins you are holding onto, which you don't believe can ever be forgiven?  Or perhaps, who are you holding in unforgiveness today?  Who are WE to hold onto sins for which Jesus so freely offers forgiveness?  Why is this forgiveness of sins—our own sins or those of others—so important that the risen Jesus begins with it?  I'm just beginning to understand what he meant.  If he is sending us out into the world to live a resurrected life, to be an Easter people, then how can we be proclaimers of the Gospel if we're weighed down by the sin of unforgiveness?  How much baggage of unforgiveness have we carried into this community of Hope?  Are we holding back the Spirit's work here in our own worship community?

      Well, during the last week, we HAVE gone out & told about the wondrous things we have experienced.  At least we told several of our group who weren't with us last week.  We told Thomas, & you know what he said?  He said he wouldn't believe us unless he saw Jesus' hands & side for himself.  I think he's from Missouri!  But I'm not sure I would have believed this incredible tale had I not seen Jesus with my own eyes.  I hadn't believed Mary Magdalene either. 

      So now we're back in the Upper Room with the doors locked.  We've already figured out if we're going to have the nerve to reach out to others with our good news, we're going to have to gather on the weekly anniversary of Jesus' resurrection to worship together. That's why we need to share the Eucharistic table every week.  This time, Thomas & some of the others are with us. 

      Look!  Jesus is appearing once again!  He's passing the peace with us, but it's so much more powerful when HE says, "Peace be with you."  Jesus tells Thomas he'll do whatever is necessary for Thomas to believe.  I was a little put out with Thomas that he's so stubborn, but Jesus just gives him what he needs to have faith.  What an awesome God we worship!  Jesus says, "Come on, Thomas.  Check it out.  Feel my wounds.  I'm real."  What does Thomas do?  Now he doesn't even have to feel Jesus' wounds in order to respond, "My Lord & my God!"  Wow, he sounds as sure as Mary Magdalene. 

      How many of us are like Thomas?  How many have often felt left out when others are describing dramatic experiences of conversion & we cannot pin-point a specific moment when we were swept off our feet with God's love for us?  I was brought up in a Christian home by a preacher father & believing mother, baptized as an infant in a country Methodist church in deep East Texas.  I've

often felt cheated because I can't pinpoint a one-time conversion experience  or a specific time when I became a Christian.  I guess you could say my whole life has been a process of becoming Christian.  I didn't have a burning bush experience.  Probably would have poured a bucket of water on it if I had had one.  Does that mean I'm any less a faithful Christian than one of those disciples who was present when Jesus was in the flesh?  Thomas did many of us a favor, asking a question we might ask ourselves.  Here, Jesus also tells each of us, "Blessed are those who have not seen & yet have come to believe."  Jesus tells later generations, even you & I, we are qualified for belief. In fact, in the long run, faith is a gift from God we don't earn & can't demand on our timetable. Still, Christ provides whatever we need for faith.

      I've told you before of the Yankee who stopped at a coffee shop in East Texas for breakfast.  You know the kind:  yellow vinyl seats & a waitress with beehive hair.  He looked over the menu & ordered sausage & eggs complete with hot biscuits.  When the server appeared with his breakfast, he stared at a white mound simmering in butter on his plate.  "What's that?" he questioned.  She replied, "Oh, that's your grits, sir."  Continuing to stare at his plate, he retorted, "Grits!  I didn't order grits!"  The woman assured him, "You don't order grits, sir.  Grits just come."  Well, my friends, grits are like faith.  They're a gift.  We Southerners know we don't order grits, & we can't order faith.  Both just come as gift from God.

      Belief doesn't have to happen all at once, overnight.  Jesus is very gentle with us.  Just as he did with Thomas, Jesus will give us what we need in order to come to believe & to act on that belief.  And we aren't expected to journey alone.  Like the disciples in that upper room, we're meant to travel in community.  In fact, we're connected in our forgiving to each other.  We're expected to journey in our faith together.  There's no such thing as an isolated Christian.

      Hope Church is looking forward to reevaluating what it means to live into abundance in our future.  The Diocese has given us some good suggestions & encourages us to engage in our church-all of us.  Christ calls us to be reconciled to him & to one another, a resurrection people who, despite our desire to ask God to let this cup pass from us, are able to say, "However, not my will but yours be done, O God." 

      Why do we stand for much of the Eucharistic service?  Because we are Easter people, risen with Christ, recreated & made new, & standing is the posture for solidarity in community.  We stand because we've gotta have each other, because in standing we profess our faith as we will do in a few moments in proclaiming the Nicene Creed and praying for one another & the world.  Then we can truly say to one another—& mean it—"The peace of the Lord be with you.  And we can mean it when we respond, "And also with you!" ("And with thy spirit.")  As we offer each other the Lord's peace, may we feel inspired and inspirited by the breath of God through Christ.  We are Easter people; we are re-created.  On this day, the Lord has acted; we will rejoice & be glad in it!  Alleluia!